A motor-vehicle door latch of the type described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,997,202 and 4,097,078 has a lock bolt defining an axis and normally secured to a doorpost. A locking element normally secured to the door edge is engageable with this lock bolt to retain the door against the doorpost. The locking element is normally formed as a pivotal fork that can be retained in place around the lock bolt by a pivotal lock pawl.
In order to minimize the noise generated by such a latch mechanism it is known from German utility model 7,247,283 to provide an elastic covering for the region of the lock bolt engaged by the locking element or for the portion of the locking element that engages the lock bolt. When mounted on te bolt the elastic covering is normally formed as a sleeve having cylindrical inner and outer surfaces and received in a cylindrical outwardly open groove of the lock bolt.
As a door equipped with such a latch is closed the locking-element fork engages and is turned by the lock bolt. The door moves in the closing direction a certain distance further than its normal rest position, which movement is possible due to the compressibility of the elastomeric door-edge seal. Thus the door rebounds somewhat against the fork whick by this time is locked securely in position by its lock pawl. The noise that would normally be created by this springing back against the locked door fork is greatly damped by the synthetic-resin sleeve on the bolt.
The considerable disadvantage of such a system is that the synthetic-resin covering for the door bolt very quickly wears out. After only a relatively short service life it normally develops a hole in the location most often engaged by the locking fork, and normally becomes so loose as to rotate on the door bolt. Eventually this elastomeric covering is damaged to the point where it either falls off or is completely useless for absorbing sound.